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Sunday, May 17, 2015

The Netherlands & My hometown

Before I start with this blog post, I want to let you know that I've got some more details about my placement! I finally heard in which state I'm going to live. But since it's not certain yet I won't tell anything about the exact place. I can only say that the state is located in the south of the USA. When I have more information I'll definitely tell it on my blog.

Especially for my foreign readers, I decided to tell something about my home country and the town where I live! I found some fun facts on a website called awesomeamsterdam.com and I think they are perfectly right, so I wanted to share them with you. These facts are all about the Netherlands and as a Dutchie myself I can say they are all true.

Beautiful Amsterdam, I love this city!

1. More than a quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level
In addition to that, 50% of its land lies less than one meter above sea level. Schiphol is actually 4.5 meters below sea level. Luckily, the Netherlands is not in a tsunami-prone part of the world.

2. Dutch people are the tallest in the world

With an average height of 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women, Dutchies are the tallest people in the world. Scientists say it's because of their DNA, nutrition and welfare, others say it's because of their copious consumption of dairy.

3. The Netherlands is the most densely populated nation in Europe
With 487 inhabitants per square kilometer, the Netherlands has the highest population density of any European country with more than 1 million inhabitants.

Polders

4. Flat as a pancake
The Netherlands is a very flat country. The Vaalserberg is the highest point in (the European part of) the Netherlands. It's only 322.7 meters high and located in the south-easternmost edge of the country in the province of Limburg.

5. Amsterdam is built entirely on poles
Because Amsterdam's soil consists of a thick layer of fen and clay, all buildings are built on wooden poles that are fixed in a sandy layer that is 11 meters deep on average. The Royal Palace at Dam Square is built on no less than 13,659 wooden poles.

Dutch - or actually Turkish - tulips

6. Turkish Tulips

Tulips, tulip fields and flower bulbs are typically Dutch. Yet, tulips do not originate from the Netherlands. The first tulip bulbs were imported from Turkey to the Netherlands, where they proved to grow extremely well on Dutch soil.

7. About 30% of all Dutch babies are born at home
Internationally, it's customary to give birth in a hospital. Not in the Netherlands: about 30% of all Dutch births happen at home.

8. Dutchies love their coffee
After Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world's biggest coffee drinkers. They drink no less than 140 liters of coffee a year on average. That's 3.2 cups a day!

How to take your kids to school in the Netherlands

9. 86% of Dutchies speak English as a second language
All Dutch kids learn English in school and visitors to Amsterdam are often impressed with the fluency with which the Dutch speak English.

10. The Nederlands is the largest beer exporter in the world
In 2001, Dutch beer companies exported an astonishing volume of 1.3 billion liters of beer abroad. Half of that was shipped to the U.S.!

The city where I've been living in for my whole life is called Zwolle. It's the capital city of the province of Overijssel and it has an population around 125,000.

The city has been inhabited since the Bronze Age period and there are many remains of medieval buildings to be found. In our city centre there are also canals and parts of an old city wall. There are many parks and nice restaurants: my parents are the owners of a restaurant themselves!

In 2014 we won the award of the Best Bicycle City in the Netherlands and my bike is also the main transportation I use to go to school and the city center.

A fun fact is that there's also a town in Louisiana, USA called Zwolle. The town received help from a man called De Goeijen, born and raised in Zwolle. He was permitted to name the place after his hometown.

The climate in Zwolle, and the rest of the Netherlands, is really mild which is why it never gets really cold or really hot.

Hi! My name is Sarah Gulien, I'm from the Netherlands and I'm 17 years old. Starting in summer 2015, I'm going to do a High School exchange year in the USA with EF. I want to keep everyone updated through my blog, where I will blog in English. I hope you'll enjoy it :)